THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



3G7 



each side and one in the middle. 

 Set the hives in with bottoms on. 

 The flat cover is loosened and shov- 

 ed endwise until the cleat rests 

 upon the end of the hives. This 

 leaves a V shape opening the whole 

 length of each side of the hive for 

 upward ventilation. Thus prepared, 

 the top of the covers can be 4 

 inches below the surface of the 

 ground the pit is dug in. Eighteen 

 inches of loose long straw is now 

 placed over the bees, and the dirt 

 thrown back on. It usually takes a 

 little more earth to cover them be- 

 low the frost line than is thrown 



out of the pit. To get this extra 

 covering, a surface drain is dug 

 along both sides of the pit for bet- 

 ter drainage. We dig the pit long 

 enough to hold twenty to thirty 

 swarms. We never use a ventilator, 

 although some of our neighbors do. 

 We called our first clamp, "the 

 grave," but we can assure you it 

 was a very live grave when it was 

 opened the next spring. The bees 

 are clamped in November, usually 

 the latter part, just at the opening 

 of winter, and are removed as soon 

 in spring as the frost is out of the 

 ground. Ed.) 



EDITORIAL CORNER 



The Orange Honey of Florida 



Our recent article in the editor- 

 ials of "The Bee-Keepers' Review" 

 on Orange honey in Florida, has 

 brought us a very interesting letter 

 from Mr. John Lefler, of Mentone, 

 Calif. Mr. Lefler is a progressive 

 apiarist of the Redlands district and 

 can speak from first hand informa- 

 tion. We must confess that we are 

 favorably impressed with his care- 

 ful and conservative remarks on 

 the crop and crop conditions in his 

 vicinity, and hope he will send in 

 further reports to the columns of 

 the "Review." His letter in part, is 

 herewith quoted. 



"That was a very interesting ar- 

 ticle in the last 'Review' by E. G. 

 B. on "The Honey Flow from 

 Orange in Florida.' My five apiaries 

 are all adjacent to orange groves. 

 The three in the Redlands district 

 are somewhat more favorably lo- 

 cated than the other two at Lama 

 I^nda and Del Rosa, and have a 

 larger acreage on which to work. 



With us, the orange, in normal 

 seasons, begins about the first of 

 April. There is oftener some bloom 

 in March, upon neglected groves, or 

 groves on sandy soil. Also nearer 

 the coast and in central California 

 the bloom is somewhat earlier than 

 here. However, by end of first 

 week in April, on an average, the 

 btes begin to whiten the combs from 

 the orange blossoms. 



As a nectar producer the orange 

 is equal to the basswood of the 



east. I have observed a gain of 

 161/^ lbs. in a day from a hive on 

 scales, and have heard of gains as 

 high as 24 lbs. per day. After a 

 wet winter the nectar is rather 

 thin. But often as happened this 

 last spring for example, we have a 

 series of hot north wjnds, which 

 ripen the nectar in the blossoms 

 making the honey thick and heavy. 



"This year my cases of orange 

 honey averaged about three lbs. 

 heavier, per case, than the same 

 cases of sage honey. 



In an average season the 

 bloom is all over by May 15th, 

 tut this year it closed the first of 

 May. One season, 1909, it held on 

 until the first of June. There was 

 some second bloom this season in 

 a good many groves, during the 

 month of June, but not enough to 

 make much show in supers. This 

 late, second bloom was caused by 

 the "freeze" of 1912 and 1913. The 

 crop in 1912 was rather short and 

 in 191 3, a failure, due to the weather 

 in March. The trees bloomed 

 much earlier than usual [Do you 

 mean in 1913? E. G. B.] and many 

 beekeepers got little honey from it, 

 because their bees were not in 

 condition to store surplus from 

 that source. The bloom being pract- 

 ically all gone by May 1st. 



We, also, have some difficulty in 

 getting our orange honey pure. Un- 

 less the hives are extracted just 

 before the orange bloom, the orange 

 honey will be discolored by old 

 (darker) honey. There is also a 



